Solitaire

 

I walk alone across a pale beach

at midnight, lit by shaky moonlight

reflected from the black ribs

of disturbed sea-shallows. A sharp breeze

beckons from the dunes; inviting warmth,

with duplicitous intent. My ease is not available

for casual enticement.

 

No, I seek a place of peaceful aloneness

where sloughing sand is my choice,

and possibilities are endless, and chosen.

I look for silences as far as the wide galaxy,

as empty as a sea shell,

as abundant as an insincere smile.

 

I stop to listen to the rythmic breathing of the strand,

watch seaweeds sashay back and forth

in triple waltz-time across rockpool dance floors;

I don't ask why.

But who will tell me that solitude is fine,

walking with myself, without a shadow in this world,

between land and sea?

 

I am contained in one-ness.

This is a wildness I surely walk alone.

 

Chris Hubbard

2016